The way people breathe is known to affect their emotional and/or physiological state. For example, breathing more slowly and gently can help to calm and relax, can reduce tension and anxiety, and can improve concentration and memory. Shallow and fast breathing can contribute to anxiety, muscular tension, panic attacks, headaches, and fatigue. Yogic techniques that teach control of various aspects of the breathing offer many advantages in both treating undesired conditions and reaching new desired mental and physical conditions. However, it is usually difficult for people to become aware of their breathing, and gaining such awareness often requires years of practice.
Biofeedback is a technique that teaches self-regulation of various physiological processes through a feedback provided to the user. Biofeedback involves the measurement of the user and providing the user a feedback indicative of the measured physiological activity. The feedback enables the user to improve awareness and control of the activity. Current methods for monitoring breathing typically require uncomfortable setup (e.g., chest straps), which makes it impractical to use in real-world environments on a daily basis, and is often unavailable on demand when a person needs it. Additionally, current breathing monitoring techniques monitor only certain breathing parameters (e.g., breathing rate and volume), and do not monitor many other parameters that may affect the emotional and/or physiological state. Thus, there is a need for a comfortable wearable breathing biofeedback device.